I have a customer who wants to "save money," and she has asked me to remove some vinyl from the plastic faces of an internally lit sign. The sign is relatively new; the faces appear to be in good shape. The vinyl is also in good condition, no cracking. She wants me to reletter the sign using these same faces. I've never worked with this plastic flex material before. Anyone have any experience removing vinyl from it? Appreciate your comments.
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
depending on much vinyl there is to remove i find removing vinyl sucks big time and i charge up the a$$ to do it...if SHE wants to save money let her remove the letters...otherwise its usually cheaper to get a new piece vs. your time.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
How long has the old faces been up? if more than a few months there will be sun staining, When you put the sign back up there will be shadows where the old letters were. How big is the face? A small face 2x3 might be worth the effort if its been up for just a few weeks.
Second. It will take you time to remove the old letering and clean off the old adhesive. Hence, it will take you just as much in labor costs as it would to buy new plastic to make a clean install.
I wouldn't waste my time. In fact when a customer insists that I reuse material more than a few months old I simply refuse as do most other signers around here do.
Posted by Robert Beechner (Member # 4337) on :
Thanks guys. Points well taken
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
Just another idea, I have had great success removing even really old vinyl with a tool I get from my supplier. It actually steams it off along with the adhesive....way cool. Posted by JanetBakewell (Member # 725) on :
I get a customer every once in a while who wants the same thing.
I tell the customer that I charge $65/hour to remove old lettering, and that the job can take anywhere from an hour or two to 10 hours or more. Furthermore, you can damage the acrylic, or there may be sun damage from the existing lettering. I refuse to guarantee any work that is placed on old materials.
Then I tell them that if they've got someone in their company that makes less than $65/hour, it would be in their best interest to have an employee remove the lettering (that usually does the trick). In many cases, they come back to me in a few days and ask for a new sign - after realizing that it's not a simple job to remove old lettering. Sometimes, they do show up later with the cleaned acrylic, but it's very seldom.
I don't need to do work that I DON'T like and that DOESN'T pay well!
Have a happy!
Posted by Steven Girard (Member # 3931) on :
hi! Robert Just to answer your question, just heat it with a dryer and pull it off,remove the adhesif with paint thinner(never take lackerthinner if your not sure it's plexiglass cause if it's lexan it gonna start to melt)
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